Solar Energy?

Parent Cafe
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<p>Any recommendations for LED bulbs? Are they ready for prime-time yet?</p>

<p>My systems are all on a power strip - when I shut down, everything goes off. I do sometimes leave the system on all night though. Sometimes I work, then sleep, then work, then sleep. I keep an iPad in the bedroom to check progress during the night and go down to my office when something finishes.</p>

<p>Monitors and computers have low power-state modes and use very little power when not in use.</p>

<p>I offer the rest of the family replacements on their systems on a regular basis - to get more efficient systems. Most of the time they don’t take me up on it as setting up a new computer and moving over their software is considered a pain in the neck.</p>

42

<p>My in laws had a solar home. They built in 1980. The house was 10,000 square feet with 7 bathroom, two jacuzzis, and a swimming pool. There was also a double dishwasher and double washer/dryer. They had a greenhouse which also had warm water for misting The most that they paid for hot water was $11 and a few cents. </p>

<p>When they sold the home the new owners took out the panels because they were “ugly”. Oh well…</p>

43

<p>“Any recommendations for LED bulbs? Are they ready for prime-time yet?”</p>

<p>The newer generation of LED bulbs have much warmer spectrum than the bulbs that were sold just a couple of years ago, but they still cost a fortune. The small $8 bulbs that can be found as a multiple-pack at Costco produce bluish light, as we discovered when we put them in our outdoor lanterns. However, there was one unexpected benefit: apparently, bugs do not like them, so I have fewer cobwebs to brush off. The hungry spiders that used to hang out by the lanterns moved on to “greener pastures”. :)</p>

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<p>watch tax credits…bought a hybrid partly due to tax credit–or whatever at the time…and then found out at year end that we made too much money (well, not really too much for us, but too much for uncle sam) and we could not claim the credit. i’d be worried that the solar credits might work the same way…</p>

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<p>sewhappy, I had a home energy audit done recently and it was definitely worth the few hours. Make sure you work with a BPI certified inspector as they will have the proper training and tools to measure everything and give you real feedback. Mine had no products to sell whatsoever, so it was purely analysis and information and the recommendations he made were inexpensive in comparison to the projected savings. He also gave me info on several federal, state, and utility co. sponsored funding programs. You might also save by simply checking the website for your state energy agency and utility co to see if they sponsor any energy audit programs - my audit was free due to a grant received from a major corporation and the only requirement was that it must be a BPI certified auditor.</p>

<p>[BPI:</a> Setting the standard in home performance and weatherization](<a href=“http://bpi.org/]BPI:”>http://bpi.org/)</p>

<p>I looked into having some integrated solar panels (ie. Westinghouse Solar) installed. They are self-contained and modular so one can start small and expand. It does seem that our NY/NJ climate would be better suited for heat pumps though I’ve seen several commercial solar installations going up in the area. None of those solutions were recommended by the auditor though…I just hate being at the mercy of the oil companies!</p>

46

<p>We had six feet of snow on our roof last year including a layer of heavy wet stuff. How would solar panels hold up to that kind of load?</p>

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<p>I get $1,440 a month in dividends from one of my energy investment trusts (and a lot of capital gains which I don’t intend to take anytime soon). If you can’t beat em, …</p>

47

<p>Even for a big house, those numbers seem high, if you are getting in the 800 dollar range something is wrong. Either they have been ripping you off, or you have some serious power loads in your house, that kind of bill would be like having electric heat running in every room at 75 degrees or something…</p>

<p>I agree with others, the best initial bet to cut bills is to look at conservation, and besides the obvious ones, light bulbs, think about some other power hogs:</p>

<p>-Electric ovens (if you have them). Since you have a natural gas furnace, I suspect you have a gas stove, if you don’t, get one installed, it will be worth it. </p>

<p>-LCD tv’s (yep, I was shocked to find they use more power then a CRT; if buying a tv, get the led models, and if they ever get organic LED’s into full production, they are cool)</p>

<p>-Either turn off computer screens and computers, or make sure they have a low power setting they go into when sleeping, computers and such use a lot of power</p>

<p>-How old are your appliances? Old refrigerators and freezers while keeping the fridge cold, run a lot and compressors are power hogs. If they are older, think about replacing them with modern, energy efficient units.Also, how are the units zoned? If you have a 5000 square foot house, it might be more efficient to have several units zoned through the house, so you can turn the thermostat up in unused spaces (for example, the bedrooms)</p>

<p>-Blow dryers and the like draw a lot of current/power, and if you have teenagers and the like it can add up</p>

<p>-If you have central air conditioning, replace the units if they are old, modern units use a lot less power to operate. Also think about attic vent fans if you have attic areas, that can help cut bills</p>

<p>-If people tend to leave lights on in the house, think about installing motion detectors in the room that automatically go on when someone is in the room, off when they leave</p>

<p>I have to admit, though, given what you have said, those numbers seem way off for NJ, I have Jersey Central here, and it isn’t not particularly cheap, but I have never seen my electric bill, even in summer, go a fraction of that (I think my max was about 180 in a brutal summer heat wave). I think you have been paying way too much because of the estimate bills, and they need to fix the remote monitoring.</p>

<p>In the meantime, why don’t you phone in a reading? I know both PSEG and Jersey Central allow you to phone in the reading, and it is really easy to do, I think they have instructions on their website. I would be willing to bet if you start phoning in readings you will be more the pleasantly surprised…when they estimate usage, they do so on the extremely high side, they ended up owing me a big credit for the couple of months I had estimated bills in the summer when for a variety of reasons the meter didn’t get read, and when I sent in a real one, it was a lot lower.</p>

<p>Also, folks, this is why it is important when buying a house to ask to see copies of the electric and gas bills, water bills, etc, so there are no surprises. </p>

<p>As far as subsidizing power, there are a lot of places in this country where the government subsidizes it, in the pacific Northwest large swaths of the states there have federal government power, that by law is provided at cost, same with the TVA district (yes, Mitch, your area actually gets benefits from the big, bad ole federal government). Upstate NY has NY state power authority power, and in general it is about 1/3 the price of private power, in my area I think it is about 22c/kwh, NYC is 25 last I checked…and most federal and state power authoroties are running about 7.</p>

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<p>FYI everyone , the 2009-2010 IRS 30% rebates on energy saving home improvements expire in 2011. They go back to 10% starting in 2012.</p>

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<p>I worry about the timing, seems to be smart to do it at time of roof replacement. I also find the panels to be an eye-sore, and do not enjoy looking at my neighbor’s panels. Our research, a few years ago, was that it would be a trophy statement, not a money-saver. Maybe not true now, due to Chinese “dumping.”
I do like to support the development of alternative energy technologies, but we have found other ways to do that, fortunately. We also have access to utilities that use only clean energy.</p>

50

<p>There are 2 points to strongly consider- is a person thinking on the switch to save money, or to help the environment? Sometimes the 2 conflict, like in an electric/hybrid car. A much more expensive car get less $ spent on gas, but more coal burned to provide electricity. Cost? or environment?</p>

<p>There is a great vid on youtube about a guy that spent 15k and now reduced his bill by 70%. But he has 2 new troubles.

  1. He was paying $100 month, so now at a savings of about $70 month, he needs nearly 18 yrs there just to break even for his cost! Is that a good investment?
  2. He installed the system contrary to his homeowner community’s bylaws and may be involved in a lawsuit. Win or lose, that’s more money spent.</p>
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<p>BC. we live in New England too. A number of friends have solar panels and the snow just slid right off of them after each snowfall. In fact, it seemed those with solar panels were the ONLY ones who could see their roof tops.</p>

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<p>We have a 2800 sq ft home in Northern NJ. It was built in 1959, and we did an energy audit and energy conservation retrofitting done in 2008, which mainly consisted of additional insulation and sealing air leaks. Over the past 2 years our electricity bills average $220/mo, with a range from about $40 in the winter to $500 with AC in the summer. Our gas bills average $90/mo, with a range from about $20 in the summer to $200 in the winter. We have an 80% efficiency forced air gas furnace which is relatively new and a 20+ year old central air unit. Our HVAC guys say we could replace the central air if we want to, but it is still working and I’ve run the economics and it doesn’t pay out.</p>

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<p>Sewhappy, DadX makes a good point. The efficiency of your furnace is also something to be considered. The energy audit will point you in the directions of things to do to help your costs…including low cost things like replacing light bulbs and caulking places where there are drafts, to more expensive things like replacing windows and furnaces.</p>

<p>We lived in a house with very very poor windows (our last house). We replaced ALL of the windows and doors and our heating costs in the winter cut in HALF. Seriously. Plus all the drafts went away, and the house was more comfortable with the thermostat set at a lower temp.</p>

<p>Our current house (almost the same size as yours…and built in 1994) has a very energy efficient furnace/hot water arrangement, is oriented south/southwest to take advantage of passive solar gain, and has awesome windows…thermopaned with argon between the panes. The windows are warm to the touch even on the coldest days…and NO drafts.</p>

54

<p>LED bulbs: we have LED bulbs in the kitchen–love them. They are the warm ones. To me, the biggest factor is the expected 50K hours of life. I hate replacing bulbs.</p>

<p>We have replaced the most difficult of the lights (over the stairs, for example) with LED screwin bulbs. Again, the warm ones. We had the bluish ones and hated them–those are in less obvious locations now.</p>

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<p>What’s the output and cost of these bulbs - they are normal household bulbs and not floodlights, correct?</p>

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<p>Good q, BCE. Are there LED flood lights for in-ceiling canisters?</p>

57

<p>Any LED chandelier/lantern type bulbs?</p>

<p>How is halogen energy-wise, btw?</p>

58

<p>One design that I’d like to see is panel lighting - something akin to a laptop display that could be hung on a wall above a power outlet that would glow to provide lighting. I like the idea of not having a single bright point of light.</p>

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<p>dmd77 – do you know the brand/model of your warm LEDs? Are they suitable for canister lights? D brought home some LEDs, but they’re definitely of the creepy blueish tint, and I won’t have them anyplace where I actually have to get things done.</p>

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<p>Some interesting products. The prices are getting better for LEDs.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Dimmable-Household-Incandescent-Replacement-Ledwholesalers/dp/B002ZBJ25G/ref=pd_sim_sbs_hg_6[/url]”>http://www.amazon.com/Dimmable-Household-Incandescent-Replacement-Ledwholesalers/dp/B002ZBJ25G/ref=pd_sim_sbs_hg_6&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>We have fluorescent ceiling lighting in the basement and the bulbs last about one to two years because we turn them on and off a lot which isn’t good for those kinds of lightbulbs. They are a royal pain to change too because of the fixture. And they buzz. $46 is a lot for a replacement bulb as the florescents are cheap. I guess I need to do the energy calculation.</p>

<p>I’m inclined to pick up a few of these 50 Watt Equivalent bulbs to try in a few places around the house; especially where the lights are on quite a bit.</p>

<p>[Amazon.com:</a> 48" 4 ft T8 T10 Fluorescent Light Tube Replacement with 20 Watt 288 SMD LED White, 2044wh: Home Improvement](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Fluorescent-Light-Replacement-LED-2044wh/dp/B005EPLWWG/ref=pd_sim_sbs_hg_4]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Fluorescent-Light-Replacement-LED-2044wh/dp/B005EPLWWG/ref=pd_sim_sbs_hg_4)</p>